The increasingly aging workforce is bringing particular attention to senior individuals in production sectors. While the interest in Virtual Reality (VR) applications for industrial robotics grows, the question of whether and how senior workers can withstand VR-based repetitive tasks arises. We here aimed to answer such questions by systematically assessing young and senior users' experiential, behavioural, and cognitive factors during simulated robotic teleoperations in VR. Two control systems for VR telerobotics, button- and action-based controls, were employed. Human performance, vigilance, and workload were measured through self-reports and a VR-integrated eye-tracker. Additionally, age-dependent differences in individual cultural and experiential factors were explored via self-report measures. Despite being slower and experiencing increased fatigue under specific conditions, as suggested by the eye-tracking measures, senior users demonstrated comparable precision in operating the robotic arm to their younger counterparts. Notably, both age groups reported similar levels of perceived fatigue. The paper provides an in-depth analysis of the advantages and challenges of adopting advanced telerobotics control systems across different age groups, consistently emphasising the human-centered dimension.

Exploring age-related phenomena in VR-based teleoperations: a human-centered perspective for industry 5.0

Nenna F.;Zanardi D.;Pluchino P.;Gamberini L.
2023

Abstract

The increasingly aging workforce is bringing particular attention to senior individuals in production sectors. While the interest in Virtual Reality (VR) applications for industrial robotics grows, the question of whether and how senior workers can withstand VR-based repetitive tasks arises. We here aimed to answer such questions by systematically assessing young and senior users' experiential, behavioural, and cognitive factors during simulated robotic teleoperations in VR. Two control systems for VR telerobotics, button- and action-based controls, were employed. Human performance, vigilance, and workload were measured through self-reports and a VR-integrated eye-tracker. Additionally, age-dependent differences in individual cultural and experiential factors were explored via self-report measures. Despite being slower and experiencing increased fatigue under specific conditions, as suggested by the eye-tracking measures, senior users demonstrated comparable precision in operating the robotic arm to their younger counterparts. Notably, both age groups reported similar levels of perceived fatigue. The paper provides an in-depth analysis of the advantages and challenges of adopting advanced telerobotics control systems across different age groups, consistently emphasising the human-centered dimension.
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Exploring age-related phenomena in VR-based teleoperations a human-centered perspective for industry 5.0.pdf

non disponibili

Tipologia: Published (publisher's version)
Licenza: Accesso privato - non pubblico
Dimensione 3.53 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
3.53 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/3504012
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 2
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 3
  • OpenAlex ND
social impact